


40 Lines

by TamscendingGender



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - Muggle, F/F, HIV/AIDS, Homophobia, M/M, Sirius has a bookstore, Some Rascism, Tonks gets a hot girlfriend, f-slur, very gay
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-09-01
Updated: 2017-10-22
Packaged: 2018-12-22 16:42:46
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 8,376
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11971440
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TamscendingGender/pseuds/TamscendingGender
Summary: Remus Lupin has been bouncing between jobs after a very messy divorce when he comes across a job at a bookstore, complete with a very handsome man and his adorable godson. He and Sirius quickly fall in love, but their romance is soon complicated by the reappearance of Remus' hostile ex-wife.





	1. Grocery Store

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sirius goes to the grocer's and sees a handsome man...and the handsome man appears again!

The man standing in line in front of Sirius was one of the most handsome people he had ever seen. He was white and had messy sandy hair and a beautiful face, which was covered in jagged scars. There was a little boy of around four clinging to his leg and staring suspiciously at the other people in the line. Sirius was infatuated instantly. Unfortunately, he thought, if this man had a son he must have a wife at home, so he tried to stop being into him. It was incredibly hard. He instead turned his attention to Harry, who had woken up from his brief nap and was trying to chew on Sirius’ hair. The man was saying something to his son, who nodded and let go of his leg. He had turned his attention to Sirius, and was staring directly at him. The little boy’s very attractive father was placing various produce on the belt. He dropped a box of noodles on the ground, and instantly Sirius was there to pick it up. Harry giggled at the sudden change in position.  
“Oh! Thank you.” the man said, obviously flustered.  
“No problem.” Sirius replied, gazing into the man’s beautiful hazel eyes. He would probably never see this man again. It didn’t matter if he had a wife or not, Sirius could enjoy looking at him for just this second. He sighed as the man bustled off with his large amount of bags and small son. It was a shame he was probably married. 

Surprisingly, Sirius did see the handsome man from the grocer's again. He was cheerfully ringing up a large stack of books for a little old lady who seemed to greatly enjoy reading John Grisham thrillers and steamy romance novels, when the bell to the door of the bookshop rang cheerfully and the man walked in. He was holding his son, who was holding a plush wolf in his arms. The little old woman pottered off and Sirius was again face to face with the handsome man.  
“Hullo.” he said cheerfully, internally screaming, I think you are sexy please date me. “Do you need me to find anything?”  
“No…I was wondering if you were hiring.” the man said. Sirius felt a leap of excitement.  
“We are hiring! In fact, I am the only employee so I think you automatically get a job.” he said in a rush. “You could start right now!”  
“I don’t need to start right now. But maybe tomorrow. Or whenever I can find a cheap daycare.” the man said.  
“Oh, you don’t need daycare.” Sirius assured the man. “My apartment is up there,” he pointed up, “and I usually just bring my godson down here. He’s napping right now, so he’s upstairs.”  
“That’s very nice.” The man looked greatly relieved by this. “Thank you so much. It’s so hard to find jobs in this city.” He seemed to be mildly upset by this, but Sirius didn’t dwell into it. “I just recently lost my job, and since my wife and I got divorced last year…” He sighed. “But I was planning on leaving her anyway, so I had a bit of a head start finding a decent job. And then I lost it. My name’s Remus, by the way. Remus Lupin.”  
“Well, Remus Lupin,” Sirius said, feeling much better about his attraction to him. “I’ll see you tomorrow at 8:30 am.”  
“Thank you…?”  
“Sirius.” Sirius provided. “Sirius Black.”


	2. Star Trek

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sirius gushes on the phone, Remus watches some Star Trek and reminisces, and they have their first day on the job together.

“You should have seen him, Tonks, he was so hot and so nice. And he’s a single parent so it’s like a cheesy romance movie.” Sirius gushed over the phone to his cousin, Nymphadora Tonks.  
“That’s nice, Sirius. Why don’t you ask him out on a date?” Tonks, as she liked to be known, said. “Take him to some fancy restaurant. That’s how Leona and I got started, and look at us now.”  
“I don’t know if he likes fancy restaurants though.” Sirius worried. “He’s got a three-year-old.”  
“Then he can get a babysitter.” Tonks suggested.  
“I don’t think he has the money for a babysitter.” Sirius commented. Tonks was thoughtful for a moment.  
“Well, I guess you’re out of luck then.” she decreed. Sirius groaned.  
“I’m no good at this. I’ve never dated anyone in my life.” he complained.  
“That is a total lie.” Tonks said. “What was Marlene, then? A 365-night stand?” Sirius rolled his eyes.  
“She was different…we were friends before and then we were like, let’s date. And I wasn’t really in love with her, I was just sad and closeted.” he explained. “Remus is a guy who I just hired and whom I saw in the grocer’s. I don’t even know if he’s into dudes. He had a wife but they got divorced.”  
“Maybe they got divorced because he was into dudes.” Tonks suggested.  
“I hope so.” Sirius said.

Remus Lupin woke up with a start as his book fell onto his face from where he had been holding it. He hadn’t fallen asleep while reading in a long time. He also hadn’t had to go to work in a long time, so that might have had something to do with it. It was 9:00, so he put the book away and turned the television on. There was a Star Trek marathon running, and he began to watch it. Desdemona loved Star Trek, which was how he had started watching it. He couldn’t watch it without thinking about her, but it was a less painful ache now. After the divorce he hadn’t been able to watch any of it without crying a lot. He hadn’t expected to be so upset by something he had been planning. His theory was that the circumstance was what made it so awful. He shook his head to get the memories out and focused on the adventures of Captain Kirk.  
“I think Kirk and Spock are in love.” he had commented one night as they watched an episode. Desdemona had been sitting on the couch nursing Teddy, and she had stared at him in horror.  
“Why do you think that, Remus?” she had asked. “They are not in love! That would be a sin.” It was then that he dreaded the the thing he had been meaning to tell her for a little while. Prejudice against that went hand in hand with prejudice against the other thing. The thing he had only just learned.  
“Daddy.” Remus pulled his attention away from the show to focus on his son. Teddy was standing next to the couch looking upset. This was a common occurrence, as Teddy was plagued with nightmares. Remus paused the show and scooted over to make room.  
“Do you want to talk about it?” he asked. Teddy shook his head violently and, taking the remote, played the episode. 

Remus’ former co-worker Sybil Trelawney had a day off, so she had offered to look after Teddy for him while he worked that day. It being his very first day, he thought it would be best if he did not have Teddy to watch while also learning how the bookstore functioned. He wondered as he rode on the Underground how on earth Sirius had managed to run it without any other person assisting him. He must be some kind of super human, Remus concluded. That only made him more attractive. He got off of the train and walked down the noisy London street to the secluded bookshop, which was in between a pub and an electronics shop. When he walked in, Sirius was sitting at the register while a small boy with medium brown skin who was approximately two sat next to his chair methodically stacking blocks on top of each other. They all fell down, and the boy burst into frustrated tears.  
“Harry…it’s all right.” Sirius said to him, coming down onto the floor and rebuilding the stack. “Look, now they’re all better.” The little boy squealed in pleasure, then proceeded to knock the tower down again. Sirius shook his head, then noticed that Remus was standing awkwardly in the center of the room. “Hello!” His cheeks had a pinkish tinge to them. “I suppose I should probably teach you how the register works and everything.  
“Is he yours?” Remus asked, indicating Harry, then remembered that Sirius had said he was his godson the day before.  
“Not exactly…he’s my best friend’s kid, but his parents died and so now I’m raising him.” Sirius said, going over to the register and fiddling around with something on it. “He’s lived with me for around six months now.”  
“I’m sorry. About your friends.” Remus said, adding the latter bit in a rush so that Sirius wouldn’t think he was being sympathetic about Harry.  
“Yeah.” Sirius shrugged. “So, anyway, to open the cash register you push this button, and if they’re using a debit card you have to do this…” He demonstrated while Remus watched with rapt attention. Eventually, Remus got the hang of it and Sirius went off to sort newly arrived books while Remus manned the cash register. A steady stream of people came into the store that day, most of whom were regular customers. One elderly woman spent around an hour sitting in the armchair in the corner of the store reading books with great interest and then putting them in a stack next to her. She bought every single one of the books, which amounted to about a thousand dollars. When Remus mentioned this to Sirius, he just laughed.  
“Paula does that every week.” he said. “I don’t know how much money that woman has but she seems to spend it all on books. She was friends with my nanni so she decided that she has an obligation to buy from my store.” He shrugged. “That’s why so many elderly people come here. My mother may have been an evil hag, but everyone loved my nanni. She could do no wrong, that woman. I often wonder how she produced my mother.” He wandered off to do something with one of the shelves, and Remus watched him go. He was slowly starting to understand how Sirius had managed the store by himself; sheer force of will. At around six o’clock, Sirius began to close up shop, putting the rolling shelves in the center of the store that displayed special books off in a corner. He passed a broom to Remus when he came over to help, and they finished the closing of the store in relative silence, other than the occasional babbles of Harry from where he had settled himself in the area with the chairs.


	3. The Date

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sirius and Remus go on a date. Remus' ex-wife shows up.

The weeks went by, and Remus slowly became used to the hustle and bustle of the bookstore. Sirius’ clientele seemed to be mostly elderly women who doted on him. Sirius explained them as friends of his abuela, who had been a very popular old woman, it seemed. Teddy took to Harry and his blocks almost immediately. Harry listened when Teddy described in detail the merits of dinosaurs, something that only Remus usually did. Granted, Harry was two and dinosaurs were something that seemed to be a universal small child interest, but Teddy was so excited that someone other than his daddy was as fascinated by which dinosaurs were the most dangerous as he was. Remus loved the bookshop; he loved the eccentric old women who would tell him stories about Sirius as a little boy while he checked out their frighteningly graphic horror novels, he loved the strange displays Sirius came up with every morning celebrating everything from Rosh Hashanah to National Kale Day, and most importantly, he loved Sirius. He had thought him very attractive when he had first met him, and as he got to know him, he fell more in love with the way he never seemed to care what his hair did, the gentle way he exclaimed about the things Harry built him from blocks, the ever-changing selection of vintage band t-shirts he wore.  
“You should ask him on a date.” Sybil told him over coffee one Sunday morning. “He sounds very handsome.”  
“I just don’t know.” Remus said, staring into his mug. “I thought Desdemona was all right…that’s why I married her. I loved her. But then I didn’t.”  
“The stars will align in the way that they choose.” Sybil said dreamily. Remus’ former teacher and surrogate mother Minerva McGonagall had similar advice.  
“Just go for it!” she said forcefully during a conversation over the phone. “The Remus I know would not shy away from such an opportunity.”  
“The Remus you know has anxiety and doesn’t want to just go for it.” Remus said.  
“I think you can do it.” Minerva said. “I believe in you.” Luckily, he didn’t have to overcome his anxiety. It was a crisp November afternoon, and they were packing up the shop when Sirius popped the question.  
“How would you like to go out to a restaurant tonight?” he asked from behind several shelves. Remus was sweeping, and he nearly dropped his broom.  
“As…a date?” he asked, conscious of the fact that he was blushing like crazy.  
“If you don’t want to…that’s fine…” Sirius said, sounding flustered.  
“No! No, I want to.” Remus amended quickly. “I just wanted to be sure. Of course I do. I just need to arrange someone to look after Teddy. It won’t be a problem.”  
“Excellent!” Sirius said. “I’ll pick you up in two hours.”  
“Great.” Remus said, grinning.

The restaurant that Sirius had selected for The Date, as Tonks had been referring to it every time she reminded him to ask Remus, was a nice little Indian place called Achchha Khaen that his nanni had loved, defying the rest of the family's aversion to Indian anything based on principal ("We are Pakistani and we do not mix with the Indians because they oppressed us for so long" Sirius' mother would often lecture him). He thought that she would approve of his selecting it for a first date.  
“And even if this goes terribly, you can still go here because the good memories will outweigh the bad ones.” Sirius thought to himself as he pulled the car into a parking spot. They walked into the restaurant, and the hostess, an enthusiastic teenager, gave them a booth in a secluded corner.  
“This is a nice place.” Remus observed, looking at the menu approvingly.  
“It was my grandma’s favorite.” Sirius said. “The biryani is my favorite…I also like the tandoori chicken.”  
“I’m rather partial to aloo gobi.” Remus said. “I don’t know…all of this looks so good! I’ve never had biryani before, so maybe I’ll try that.”  
“And we have to get naan. The naan here is phenomenal.” Sirius gushed. The hostess came back to their table, her headscarf’s tassels bouncing cheerfully, and they gave her their orders.  
“Oh no.” Remus muttered suddenly, staring at the doorway in a manner that reminded Sirius of a deer staring at headlights. “Oh…good.”  
“What is it?” Sirius asked.  
“Nothing…just someone I don’t want to see. But she’s sitting in a different part of the restaurant, so it’s fine. She didn’t see me.” Remus twisted his napkin between his hands. Sirius decided not to press further into the issue, as Remus clearly did not want to talk about whoever this woman was. They turned the conversation towards the trials and tribulations of raising small children, a topic which wandered into one about their childhoods. Sirius had many good stories about his abuela and the strange things she had done. He was telling one about the time they had gone to the zoo and she had befriended a monkey, when a woman walked up to their table, looking very malicious.  
“Hello, Remus.” she said, her eyes flashing with something that seemed to be anger. “Fancy seeing you here.”  
“Desdemona.” Remus said stiffly, avoiding her gaze. Sirius glanced between the two of them.  
“And who’s your friend?” Desdemona said, turning her vindictive gaze upon Sirius.  
“Oh, just somebody.” Sirius replied. “Now, we were eating dinner, so perhaps we could chat later?” Go away and never come back, he thought.  
“But then I might have to leave.” Desdemona sighed. “And I don’t know how Remus has been doing. How is our son?” Sirius blinked. This woman had been Remus’ wife? Shit.  
“My son is doing fine, thank you.” Remus said quietly, beginning to twist the napkin again.  
“He should be mine, you know.” Desdemona said to Sirius. “But the court ruled that a dirty faggot was a better parent than me.” Sirius thought that the court probably knew what it was doing. He stood up and took her arm in an attempt to steer her back to her table, but she jerked away. “Don’t touch me, you nigger!” she screamed. The whole restaurant went silent. The hostess disappeared into the back of the restaurant and returned with a very tall man who looked very imposing.  
“Now, ma’am.” he said calmly, but she ignored him.  
“You’d better be careful,” she shouted at Sirius, “or you’ll get AIDS from him. He’s full of it.” The big man sighed.  
“Please,” he said, “get out of my restaurant. We do not tolerate this.” Desdemona glared at him and muttered another racial slur, then stalked out of the restaurant. The friends she had been with looked horribly embarrassed and finished their food quickly. Sirius sat down and looked at Remus. He looked miserable.  
“What a thoroughly despicable woman.” Sirius declared. “It’s a good thing you divorced her…you’re far too good for her.”  
“I didn’t know she was like that until I married her.” Remus mumbled, staring at the remains of his biryani. “I didn’t…I don’t know.” He sighed.  
“It’s late…I should get you home.” Sirius said, summoning the waiter and requesting the check. They sat in silence while they waited for the check to come, and while Sirius drove Remus back to his apartment. Remus paused before he got out of the car and looked over at Sirius.  
“I guess…this was nice…but you don’t want to do it again.” he said quietly. Sirius looked at him in surprise.  
“Why wouldn’t I?” he asked. “I like you. I like like you. I don’t care if you were married to some crazy lady who can't tell the difference between a black person and a South Asian person.”  
“I’m HIV-positive.” Remus said abruptly, staring fixedly at the dashboard. “That’s why she divorced me. I suppose now you won’t want…want me in your life anymore.”  
“If I didn’t, I would be losing a great person.” Sirius said, catching Remus’ hand. Remus stared at him.  
“You…you don’t…” The look of utter shock on his face made Sirius want to find Remus’ ex-wife and punch her. Instead, he leaned across the console and kissed him.  
“She didn’t deserve someone as wonderful as you.” he murmured, pulling away. Remus smiled.


	4. Tonks and Leona

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Remus meets Sirius' cousin and her girlfriend

_They were taking Teddy for a walk in the park one day when Desdemona abruptly turned the stroller around and began to walk the other way. Remus had not been expecting this and pulled up short. “Desdemona, where are you going?” he had asked, watching her march down the bike trail with her skirt swishing purposefully. She had stopped and looked at him incredulously. “You don’t see them?” she had asked, pointing aggressively. Remus had looked, but all he could see was an elderly woman feeding pigeons and sitting on a bench, and a pair of young men holding hands on a picnic blanket. Remus had felt a sick feeling in his stomach that had nothing to do with the couple. “I see them.” he had said. “I don’t understand what the problem is.” Desdemona had laughed and continued to walk in the other direction. The couple had noticed her hostility towards them, and the more muscular of the two men stood up and was coming towards them. Remus had not wanted to follow her. “I’m sorry,” he said to the man. “I don’t know what’s gotten into her.” When he got home, Desdemona had gone to the grocery store, and Remus had sat in the living room wondering what he was supposed to do._

Remus woke up with his sheets all tangled around him, shaking. He had been having a nightmare but he couldn’t remember what it had been about. He glanced over at the clock and with a start realized that he should have been awake much earlier. He sped through a shower and pulled on jeans and a jumper at a speed he didn’t know he was capable of. When he came into the kitchen Teddy was eating bread and marmalade. An open cupboard and a chair sitting next to the counter revealed Teddy’s method for retrieving the food.

“Mr. Sirius called.” Teddy said, licking sticky jelly from his fingers. “I told him you were naked.” Remus froze in the process of putting bread in the toaster.

“You told Sirius I was naked?” he spluttered. He wondered what Sirius had said in response.

“And then I hung up.” Teddy said proudly. Remus briefly regretted teaching his son how to use the phone. He took the toast out of the toaster and liberally spread jam and margarine on it. He ate quickly and herded Teddy into the bathroom to brush teeth. They were only fifteen minutes late, mainly thanks to a very early train. Sirius was cheerfully sorting books when they breezed in, Remus’ hair askew from the November wind.

“Sorry I’m late.” he said breathlessly. Sirius smiled and kissed him.

“It’s fine…no one’s shown up yet.” he said. As he said this, the door opened with a jingle and two young women walked in holding hands.

“Sirius!” the shorter of the women, who had spiky pink hair and dangerous-looking combat boots, exclaimed, dropping the other woman’s hand and doing something mysterious with her hands. Remus was confused for a moment, but quickly recognized it to be sign language. “Is that _him_?” She goggled at Remus.

“Hello, Tonks.” Sirius said, also signing. “Remus, this is my cousin Tonks and her girlfriend Leona.” Leona smiled and waved. She was wearing a blue hijab and a t-shirt that read, ‘Gay is halal!’

“We’ve heard all about you.” Tonks said, going up to Remus and shaking his hand vigorously. “You were right, Sirius, he is pretty handsome.” she added over her shoulder.

“Tonks.” Sirius said in an embarrassed voice, but he seemed pleased. “Don’t you have work today?” Leona signed something, shaking her head.

“Scrimgeour took over the entire station to work on this impossible murder case he’s been obsessing over.” Sirius translated for Remus. “Everyone who isn’t working it has the day off.”

"He’s mental!” Tonks said happily, sitting in the swivel chair next to the checkout desk. “Mad-Eye was worse though. I think the more mental, the better, honestly.”

“Are you police officers?” Remus asked, using the very bad sign language he barely remembered from a course he had taken a couple of years previously. Leona beamed.

“That was close.” she said. Her voice was soft and she spoke slowly. “It’s more like this.” She demonstrated, and made the sign for laughter when Remus fumbled it completely. Sirius snuck over and slid his arm around Remus’ waist.

“I’ll teach you how it works.” he said, waggling his eyebrows seductively. Tonks laughed like crazy.

“To answer your question, yeah.” she said, once she had stopped laughing. “We’re on the streets most of the time, unless Scrimgeour thinks there’s something more important than day-to-day policing. Then we’re involved in murder cases and whatnot.”

“Whoa.” Remus had not noticed that Teddy and Harry were listening.

“Awesome!” Harry squealed, and he ran away giggling. Teddy ran off after him. Tonks grinned.

"Harry’s learned a new word, I see.” she said, signing something to Leona that made her laugh.

“It’s all he says nowadays.” Sirius said. “Last week it was ‘groovy’…I don’t know where he heard that.” The door opened again and a pair of old ladies walked in.

“Well, we’ll leave you to your work.” Tonks said. “We’ve got a romantic date planned.”

“We are going to the post office.” Leona clarified. “It’s not that romantic.” Sirius took leave of them to help one of the ladies with something. Leona and Tonks headed off for their “romantic date”, and Remus took his spot in the chair behind the desk. Teddy came over and climbed into his lap. Harry followed and clambered up the chair to sit next to Teddy. He was holding a board book version of One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish Blue Fish, which he offered to Remus. “Fish!” he exclaimed happily. Remus carefully navigated holding the book and not squashing either child, and satisfied Harry’s request. They had to pause when the ladies came over to pay for their books, and while Remus was dealing with them Harry got distracted by something and toddled off into the bookshelves. He returned soon after that in Sirius’ arms.

“Somebody tried to chew on a book.” Sirius said, shaking his head. “He hasn’t done that since he was teething. What are you telling him?”

“Book! Book! Book! Book!” Harry chanted. “I like books.” he added. Sirius pulled the other chair from a corner and sat next to Remus.

“Kids.” he said. They’re crazy.”

“You’re crazy!” Harry said, and giggled. Teddy slid down from Remus’ lap and disappeared into the children’s books section.

“What are you doing next Sunday morning?” Sirius asked while trying to contain a wiggling Harry. “Do you like coffee? There’s a coffee place down the street. I feel the need to make up for last night.”

“Last night was fine…it wasn’t your fault.” Remus assured him. “I don’t have any plans, so of course.” Sirius grinned. The door jangled and a pair of teenagers with heavy make-up came in.

“I suppose I should look like I’m working.” Sirius said. “Can’t have the customers thinking I just sit around staring at my boyfriend all the time.” He kissed Remus on the cheek and went to open some boxes.

 

Desdemona found it difficult to focus on her duties as a secretary, as she was still fuming after her encounter with Remus the previous night. She had managed to push her rage over the fact that the dirty _faggot_ got custody of their child to the back of her mind for most of the past year, but seeing him with that man had just made her angrier. She had to do something, but she didn’t know what. She glared at the computer and wondered what she could do that wouldn’t get her in legal trouble.

“Ms. Hughes!” Desdemona looked up at the sound of her boss’s voice. He was standing in the doorway of his office looking very angry. “I need you to send those emails that I asked you to, pronto.”

“Yes, Mr. Malfoy.” she said sulkily, and began to write the emails. Lucius Malfoy was such an _asshole_. He treated his workers like scum.

 _I don’t deserve that_. she thought to herself. _I deserve so much more than this._ A plan began to form in her mind as she typed, and she cackled.


	5. Crisis

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Leona and Tonks babysit, and something bad happens....

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you've been reading this as I've been updating, you'd probably like to know that I changed a little bit in the last chapter....I decided that it should be a little more explicit that Leona is deaf and so I re-wrote the whole scene with her and Tonks to add SIGN LANGUAGE!!! Also shout-out to my friend Chloe for answering my random questions about life as a HoH person so I can write Leona as well as I can :)

Tonks and Leona had nothing to do the next Sunday, so they had volunteered to babysit for Sirius and Remus. Tonks set Harry up with some plastic dinosaurs and Leona’s _Star Trek_ action figures and left them to their own devices while she, Leona, and Teddy watched an episode of _Deep Space Nine,_ which was Leona’s favorite. As she put it, “Captain Kirk is very handsome, but Captain Sisko looks like me.” Tonks couldn’t argue with this logic. She herself enjoyed the original series, because in her opinion you couldn’t beat Spock and Kirk for a better relationship. Teddy had elected to watch with them, which made Tonks very happy. She approved greatly of the introduction of young children to _Star Trek._ Teddy had seemingly never watched anything with subtitles before, because he kept giggling every time it described a sound. About halfway through the episode, Teddy got bored, as children do, and wandered off. Harry had moved out into the hallway and was doing something mysterious with the dinosaurs, and presumably Teddy had gone to join him. Tonks didn’t really concern herself with the strange things that small children got up to. She supposed this was not a good trait in a babysitter, but the boys seemed to be doing fine. After a couple minutes, she heard giggling from somewhere in the apartment.

"The boys are doing something suspicious.” Tonks signed to Leona. “I’m going to go investigate.” She paused the episode and went into the hall. Several of the dinosaurs and action figures were sitting in the hallway. Tonks paused to stare at the Kirk action figure sitting on a stegosaurus and holding a phaser, but she quickly decided to not question it. The giggles were coming from the bathroom. When Tonks pushed open the door, she found Harry sitting on the ground chewing on a bath bomb, and Teddy was standing on the toilet trying to put back a bottle of Long-Lasting Hair Dye. Most of his hair was dyed bright pink. An Uhura action figure was sitting on the tissue box along with a T-rex that had been decorated with lipstick.

"Oh God, Remus is going to kill me.” Tonks said.

"Teddy’s pink!” Harry exclaimed, putting the bath bomb down. “This is yummy.”

"Harry, that’s not food.” Tonks said exasperatedly, snatching the bath bomb up and putting it in the trash. “Teddy, how did you get into the hair dye?”

"I climbed.” Teddy said. “I wanted to see what it did. I like it.”

"Your father is not going to be very happy with me.” Tonks said, sighing. “Neither is Sirius. Harry, you know you’re not supposed to eat things that aren’t food.”

"Yummy yummy yummy!” Harry exclaimed.

"They are not going to let me babysit ever again.” Tonks said. She shooed the boys out of the bathroom and made sure they stayed in the living room this time. When Sirius and Remus showed up to pick them up, Tonks made sure they didn’t come into the apartment.

"There might have been a small…incident.” she said. “I…”

"Daddy!!!” Teddy yelled. “Look!!” He ran over and, ducking past Tonks, jumped into Remus’ arms.

"He got into the dye cabinet. We weren’t paying attention. I’m sorry.” Tonks said apologetically. Remus stared at his son’s lurid locks for a moment, then shrugged.

"It’ll wash out eventually, I suppose.” he said.

"It’ll take a week, if it’s the stuff I think it is.” Sirius said. “If it’s not that…it could be permanent.”

"Yay!!!!” Teddy exclaimed. “I want to stay, daddy!! Can I dye the rest pink? Please???” Remus sighed.

“No, Teddy. Maybe when you’re older.” He said. “Thank you for looking after him, Tonks.” he added, smiling at her.

“Did you have a nice date?” Tonks asked.

“It was very nice!” Remus said, putting Teddy down and coming fully into the apartment. “We went to that little coffee place near the shop; very romantic. I think the barista tried to flirt with me. That was weird. But otherwise it was very nice!”

“Leona and I went to that place once.” Tonks said. “The cashier understood sign language and I swear, it took me ages to drag Leona away from her.” Leona had been watching them, and she grinned when Tonks said that.

“She was very attractive.” she signed. “I almost broke up with you for her.”

“You are the worst.” Tonks signed back.

“I am the best for not breaking up with you for the sexy signing barista.” Leona countered. Sirius snorted.

“I assume Leona is saying sexual things about the barista.” Remus said. Tonks made a mental note to start teaching him BSL.

“Well, it’s time we were off.” Sirius said, signing briskly along with his words. “Thanks again for watching the kids.”

“Anytime.” Leona said while signing, speaking out loud for Remus’ benefit.

 “Next time I’ll pay attention to what they’re doing.” Tonks promised. When Remus and Sirius and the boys had left, Tonks flopped on the couch.

 “Now I know to not leave anything vaguely edible in Harry’s reach.” She signed. Leona signed laughter.

 

It was Saturday, and the shop was closed, so Sirius and Harry were hanging out at home watching whatever was on TV. Currently it was some show about people looking for a new home in the country. Harry was fascinated by it; Sirius decided not to question his godson’s strange choice of television enjoyment. He himself was completing an online course on Welsh, after learning that Remus’ parents were from Wales.

“After this, I’ll be quartrilingual.” Sirius said happily to no one in particular. His mother was very insistent on him learning Urdu and Arabic, so he could connect with their roots. It was probably the only good thing his mother had done for him. As he was reading a sentence about sheep, the phone rang. Sirius briefly considered letting it ring, but his plans were interrupted by Harry screaming “Phone!!!!”

“I’m getting it, Harry.” Sirius said, rolling off the couch and picking up the phone. It was Remus.

“Remus!” he exclaimed. “How are you?”

“I can’t find Teddy.” Remus said, his voice high and panicked.

“Where are you?” Sirius asked, striding over to the closet and putting on his shoes one-handed. It was very difficult to tie laces with one hand. “I’m coming.”

“Tesco.” Remus replied softly. “I turned and he was gone.” Sirius didn’t ask why Remus hadn’t gone to an employee; he was aware of Remus’ anxiety and would not ask something so difficult of his boyfriend.

“I’m on my way.” he assured Remus, and hung up. Harry was resistant to being taken away from the TV, but Sirius was able to get him into his trainers quickly. He may have sped a little bit, but laws were not important when his boyfriend was having a crisis. He found Remus in the cereal aisle. He looked up anxiously, then hurried over to Sirius.

“He was just here.” he whispered. “I don’t know where he could have gone.”

“I’ll talk to an employee. We’ll find him. He’s probably in the cheese aisle or something.” Sirius said calmly, but internally he was freaking out. Teddy was not the kind of kid who would wander off. He put Harry in the child seat on Remus’ cart and steered both it and his boyfriend towards a bored looking man standing near a shelf full of bread.

“Excuse me, sir, have you seen a little boy with pink hair?” Sirius asked. The man frowned.

“Was he wearing light-up dinosaur shoes?” he asked. Remus nodded. “Yeah, I saw him. My little girl’s been begging me for shoes like that, which is why I noticed. Poor kid, he was screaming something awful. I guess he wanted to go home. Is he yours? I think they just left.”

“Yes, thank you.” Sirius said. When they were out of sight of the man, Remus let out an anguished noise.

“It’s her.” he whispered. Sirius pulled him into his arms.

“We’ll call the police. The court gave you custody. It will be fine.” he murmured. “You told me they gave you exclusive custody because they found evidence that You-Know-Who,” that was how Sirius had been referring to Remus’ ex-wife, “was abusive. There’s no way they’ll let her.”

“They’re not going to let me keep him.” Remus muttered into Sirius’ shoulder. “I’m a danger to children.”

“That’s bullshit.” Sirius said aggressively. “Let’s pay for this stuff, and then we’ll go back to your apartment and I’ll the police. If they don’t do anything about it, I’ll get Leona and Tonks and they’ll do something. I don’t think You-Know-Who can face the combined powers of Tonks and Scrimgeour. That man is scary.”


	6. Time For Action

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sirius summons Tonks, Leona, and a couple of their friends to help in rescuing Teddy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a pretty short update, but then again I do write very short chapters so nothing's new!   
> Also the format is really weird because I copy this from Word and am too lazy to make it less weird.

Remus sat on the couch watching Sirius pacing up and down as he talked on the phone with a police officer.

            “No, he’s not my son, he’s my friend’s son. No, he can’t, he has anxiety. Yes, he is! We think it was his ex-wife. No, she doesn’t have custody rights! How can you call yourself a police officer?” Sirius hung up aggressively and glared at the phone for a moment. “I’m calling Tonks.” he said after a brief pause. He sat down on the couch and punched in Tonk’s number. Remus pulled himself deep inside of his jumper. He felt like it should be him that was making these calls, not Sirius; it was his son that had been kidnapped, but he couldn’t. He was too anxious.

            “Hi Tonks.” Sirius said. “Not great. Teddy’s gone missing, and we think You-Know-Who has kidnapped him. No, not Riddle, what’s-her-face, Remus’ ex-wife. The police station we called wouldn’t do anything. Yeah, that’s fine. Both of them?” There was a long pause; Remus could faintly hear Tonks shouting to someone. “All right. I think that will work. See you soon.” He hung up and sat on the couch next to Remus. “Tonks and Leona are coming over with two people from their station.” he said. “If anyone can fix this, it’ll be them.” He kissed Remus on the cheek and went into the kitchen, emerging soon afterwards with two mugs of tea. Remus accepted the tea and sipped it miserably. After a very short time, there was a knock at the door. When Sirius answered it, Tonks and Leona entered in casual clothes, followed by two people Remus didn’t recognize.

            “Hey Maryam, Kingsley.” Sirius said, shaking the two stranger’s hands. “This is Remus. Remus, this is Maryam and Kingsley Shacklebolt.”

            “Hey.” Maryam said. She was a very tall black woman with long braided hair and was wearing a floral dress with the shoulders cut out. Kingsley was an equally tall bald man who looked very much like Maryam; Remus guessed they were siblings. He was wearing jeans and a T-shirt.

            “Scrimgeour is on the hunt again.” Kingsley said, as if to explain why they were all wearing casual clothes. “We were all hanging out at the coffee shop down the street when Sirius called.”

            “That man cannot be stopped.” Tonks said, shaking her head. As per usual, she was serving as Leona’s interpreter. “We were going to see a movie but we decided that helping Remus rescue his kid was a much more important use of our time.”

            “Kingsley and Maryam are two of the best officers in the precinct.” Sirius said. Leona signed something.

            “Leona says they’re probably the best in the whole city.” Tonks reported.

            “Oh, stop it.” Maryam said, grinning. “Anyway, we have a child to rescue.”

 

            Several hours later, the living room was covered in pictures and paper, like a scene out of a crime drama. The investigators had convened in the kitchen for tea and to discuss a plan of action.

            “I think if we explain it to Scrimgeour he’ll probably get us a warrant to arrest her.” Kingsley was saying. “He’s very passionate about helping people because he thinks it’ll give the department a good reputation.”

            “Maybe we should just send Scrimgeour to rescue Teddy.” Leona signed. “He would scare the shit out of You-Know-Who.” She and Tonks had picked up Sirius’ habit of referring to Remus’ ex-wife as You-Know-Who, although it did get confusing sometimes, because Tonks referred to a guy she had gone to university with as You-Know-Who.

            “We could also send Kingsley.” Maryam suggested. “There’s nothing scarier than a black man to people like her.”

            “How about we all go?” Sirius said. “A group of people of color would scare her like nothing else could.” Remus smiled without any mirth in his expression. He was nursing his sixth cup of tea. Sirius squeezed his knee comfortingly.

            “I’ve just texted Scrimgeour and he says he’s sent a note to the judge who handles these things, and she’ll take care of it.” Tonks announced. “That’ll probably be fast. Judge Ramirez is the best.”

            “Until then, we’ll just have to wait.” Kingsley said, sighing. They were all quiet for a long time. The silence was broken by Remus’ cell phone ringing. He pulled it out of his pocket and looked at it. Sirius had never seen such a fear-filled expression on anyone’s face upon seeing a phone call. He leaned over and looked at the screen. It was Desdemona.

            “I’ll answer it.” Sirius said.

            “I should do it myself.” Remus said. He picked up the phone and went into the living room. Sirius followed him, for moral support. Remus was standing in the middle of the room, staring at the wall and listening to whatever that evil woman was saying. Finally, he hung up and tossed the phone at the couch. He was shaking. Sirius went to him and hugged him tightly.

            “It’s going to be all right.” he said. “Tonks and Leona and the Shacklebolts will go and arrest her, and you’ll have Teddy back.” Remus didn’t say anything; he just clung to Sirius. When they eventually broke apart, Remus had a look on his face that made Sirius almost feel sorry for Desdemona.

            “She is going _down_.” he said in a voice that Sirius had never heard him use, and that was mildly terrifying.


	7. Crisis Concluded

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Desdemona thought her plan was going well....

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You may have noticed that I posted another story while I'm in the middle of this one. That's because I had writer's block on this story so I started writing another and then I liked it so I posted it. That one'll probably be updated about as regularly as this one has been (i.e. very erratically). Also, I thought this was going to be the last chapter but I got some more ideas so y'all will be able to to enjoy more of this weird story of mine.

Desdemona was having a nice day, other than the fact that her son was sulking. Didn’t he understand he was hers, and not that lying scumbag’s? But no, Teddy refused to even look at her. She had hidden all the phones after he had attempted to call the police during the night, while he thought she was sleeping.   
“The police are not going to help us!” she had shouted at him. “They will just take you away from me again!” Teddy had retreated into the study and shut the door, and she had been unable to get him out. She had been able to get him to come out since, and so after several hours of trying, she had retreated to the living room to watch television. The news was not very positive; the USSR was performing missile tests and some Russian writer had died. She switched to a soap opera that was playing on a different channel and smiled. It was cheesy, but it was better than the news. She was only half paying attention, though, as she was mostly concerned with her dreams of what she would do once she had legal guardianship of Teddy. She smiled. Life would be so much…  
There was a bang on the door, and Desdemona jumped out of her reverie. Who was knocking on her door, and why were they banging so hard? She turned the TV off and stood up. When she opened the door, she was greeted by three people, all wearing police uniforms. They also happened to not be white.   
“What do you want?” Desdemona asked, glaring at them. One of them, a bald black man, pulled a piece of paper out of his pocket.  
“We are here to arrest you.” he said, showing the piece of paper to her. It was a warrant for arrest. Desdemona scoffed.  
“Why are you arresting me? What have I done?” she asked, not even deeming the paper worthy of her gaze.   
“You’ve kidnapped a child, threatened people over the phone, and you’re just generally evil.” the middle police officer, a woman who looked Middle Eastern and had bright pink hair said.   
“Tonks, you don’t need to add the last part.” the last person, a tall black woman who looked a lot like the man, muttered. “It’s true, but we have to stay on task.”  
“I have not kidnapped a child.” Desdemona protested. “I was reclaiming my son, who ought to be in my custody.” The man shrugged.  
“Maybe that’s so, but you should bring it up in court instead of child snatching.” He said. “Remember, you have the right to remain silent and call a lawyer.” The black woman pulled out handcuffs and went to put them on Desdemona, but she retaliated and punched her in the face. The woman staggered, giving Desdemona enough time to slam the door and lock it. She ran, grabbing her coat, and pounded on the door to the office.  
“Theodore Lyle Lupin!” she yelled. “We have to go! Open this door or I’ll…” The door was quickly opened, and her son glared up at her.  
“I’m not coming with you.” he said   
“Yes you are.” Desdemona said, grabbing his hand and pulling him out of the room. He pulled against her.  
“No!!!” he screamed.   
“You will listen to your mother!” Desdemona roared.   
“You’re not my mother!” the little heathen yelled, and he bit her. Desdemona yelled and pulled her hand back. Teddy turned and ran down the hall. Desdemona went after him. He stopped at the door and seemed to be struggling with the lock. This gave Desdemona her chance. She swooped down and grabbed him just as he turned the key.   
“Let’s go!” she yelled. The door was kicked in as she turned to run down the hallway, and she was confronted by none other than her ex-husband, the police officers standing behind him. “What are you doing here?” she snarled.  
“I wanted to come with them.” he said. “I didn’t think leaving the job of rescuing my son to others would be a good idea.”  
“He is not your son!” Desdemona screamed. She wanted to punch him, and she did; right in the nose. Unfortunately, this act loosened her grip on Teddy, and he jumped down out of her arms and ran to the police officers. There was another man with them; it was the man that she had seen Remus with in the restaurant. Desdemona turned to run, but Remus grabbed her arm. She had not realized he was so strong. Blood trickled down his face from his nose, but he didn’t seem very phased by this.   
“Let go of me, you…” she started to scream, but the pink-haired officer appeared from nowhere and grabbed her other arm. Desdemona flailed, but the police officer was incredibly strong.  
“I guess we can add resisting arrest and assault to your list.” she said, twisting Desdemona’s arm into an angle it was not supposed to go and putting the handcuffs on her. “Kingsley, can you give me a hand?” Together, the two officers shoved Desdemona into a police car; the indignity of it!   
“I will sue you!” Desdemona huffed. “When we get to the station I’m complaining to your superior officer.”   
“Have fun with that.” the woman with the pink hair said, and they sped away. 

The instant the police car drove off, Remus swooped Teddy up in his arms and began speaking in an anxious rush of words.  
“Did she hurt you? Are you all right? If she so much as-I’m never taking my eyes off you in a store ever again. I was so worried but we couldn’t do anything. I hope that woman goes to jail!” His son hugged him back.   
“She is mean.” he said, burying his face in Remus’ sweater. “Mean mean mean mean.” Remus didn’t care that his nose was bleeding; he was just relieved to have his son back safe with him. Sirius came over and put a hand on his shoulder.  
“We should go back to my apartment.” he said softly. “It’s is closer, and we can see to your nose.” Remus nodded. They piled into the back of Kingsley’s police car and he drove them the few blocks that it took to get to the bookstore and Sirius’ apartment. Once they were upstairs Sirius steered Remus into the kitchen and began to see to his bloody nose. Teddy was initially reluctant to leave Remus, but he seemed to have decided that Sirius was an acceptable companion for his father and was eventually persuaded to make use of the extensive supply of plastic dinosaurs that were in Sirius’ living room. Once they had cleaned off the blood and Remus had a supply of tissues with which to stem the flow of blood, Sirius settled down on the chair beside him.   
“Did the court know You-Know-Who was a crazy lunatic when they gave you custody of Teddy?” he asked. “It’s ok if you don’t want to talk about her right now, after the past few days.” he added hastily.   
“They interviewed us both and determined that Desdemona was not an ideal person to raise a child.” Remus said. “I don’t know what she said or did that made them think that, but it was a wise decision.” He pulled the tissue away to see if the bleeding had stopped, and was disappointed to find that it had not. He sighed. “I can’t believe it’s only been a week since the restaurant. It feels like years.”   
“There’s nothing like a catastrophe to bring lovers together.” Sirius said happily. Remus grimaced.   
“I wish Desdemona had never come into our lives.” he said. “She was a part of my life, and now she’s in yours.”   
“The skeletons had to come out sometime.” Sirius commented.   
“How are you always so positive? Remus asked. “I wish I was like you, instead of…instead of an anxious mess who sometimes does something brave.”   
“You’re not just any anxious mess.” Sirius said. “You’re my anxious mess, and I love you and all your anxious messiness. And anyway, I don’t think you want my life. I’ve got a deep dark past that no one would want to know about.” He stared into the distance for a moment, as if contemplating what he was about to say next, but shrugged. “That’s a story for another day.” Remus checked on his nose again and was pleased to find that the bleeding had stopped. He threw the tissue into the trash.   
“Maybe I should be heading home.” he said.   
“You don’t have to.” Sirius said. “I’m making pasta with my special tomato sauce. It even comes in a can, special for me.”  
“That’s just store-bought.” Remus said. Sirius winked and, standing up, kissed him on the forehead.  
“That’s what they’d like you to think.” he said.


End file.
